These past weeks in Japan have been truly amazing – I’ve ridden on trains for the first time in my life, been to so many places, and met so many people. I also had the wonderful opportunity to experience another first – my first LGBT pride festival!
Osaka Rainbow Festa is one of many pride festivals held all over Japan throughout the year. Unfortunately, it’s rather small. Not a lot to look at in the festival itself, but there were some neat buildings nearby.
All the same, being at the festival was a lot of fun. I went with my friends from the seminar house, and we met a couple of other people from Kansai Gaidai there, as well. There were performances by a few LGBT dance teams, and a pop artist also performed. There were some really good food stands, and we wandered through the park a bit and fed some pigeons, too. One of the most interesting things to me was the stand for an LGBT Japanese Sign Language group – who were translating all announcements and speeches onstage into Japanese Sign Language. I managed to grab a short video of one of the interpreters!
There wasn’t much to see around the festival aside from the performances, so I didn’t get many opportunities to take pictures. A lot of it was just socializing, with a few stands advertising pro-LGBT companies, and some people spreading information for same-sex marriage ceremonies. I didn’t get a lot of chances to capture the experience on film, but it was extremely enjoyable! If you have the chance at any time, I would recommend Osaka Rainbow Festa.